Preface to Adventure

[Djute]

Several grueling months had passed since his arrival in Arcadia but finally the day had arrived. Djute had finished his training and would be setting out on the guild's next expedition as a full-fledged apprentice. Everything had seemed so foreign to him when he had first arrived in the city and it still seemed as if it had only been yesterday that he had first glimpsed the imposing gold walls. However, nothing was as impressive to the young man than his first glimpse of a dragon. As the caravan he had been traveling with approached the city, a dragon had taken flight from the walls and circled the small train of merchants.  Djute's mouth had fallen agape and he had found himself at a lack for words until they had reached the city gates. He had always assumed that dragons did not really exist and even his first glimpse of one did not feel real. Since then, he had seen several around the city and the sight of one of the large, scaly creatures was almost becoming commonplace. Shortly after arriving in city, the merchants he had traveled with guided him to an explorer's guild they had an agreement with. The sign hanging over the door had read 'Arcadia Exploration and Mapping Guild' but the guild was more commonly referred to as 'Arcadia's Eyes.' A burly man with a garish scar on the left side of his face had greeted him inside the guild's modest establishment, introducing himself as Garoche, the guildmaster, and had been skeptical about admitting someone as young Djute into the guild, especially seeing as he had no combat training or experience. However, Djute was quick to show him the many maps that he had drawn over the years, especially the map he had created on his journey to Arcadia. Djute's cartography skills impressed Garoche and he agreed to accept him saying that they needed a new cartographer and something about a fire in the young man's eyes. However, he also warned that he would need to endure the grueling training process and if he died out on an expedition, it would be his own damn fault.

Now, several months later, Djute had finished his training and had been cleared by his sword instructor to participate in the next expedition. He was now eagerly waiting in his room double checking and triple checking his equipment and supplies to make sure nothing could go wrong . He was about to draw his sword to sharpen it for the fifth time when a knock came at the door. Before he could get up to answer it, a voice called through the door,  "Djute! Get down here! The guildmaster is gathering the expedition members for a quick briefing and he won't like it if you're late!." Djute quickly leaped to his feet and gathered up his equipment, strapping his sword to his belt, checking his armor to make sure it was secure, and throwing his pack over his shoulder. Moving quickly to the door, he threw it open and rushed downstairs to join the rest of the guild.

[Djute]

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Djute prepared to round the corner into the guild's large meeting room like he did most mornings, but found himself crashing into the large belly of a man he couldn't believe he hadn't seen. Djute stumbled back a few steps, surprised, and found himself looking up at Cook, a large, round, and rather simple man who said little and was, unsurprisingly, the guild's cook. "Sorry Cook," Djute mumbled, "Wasn't looking." Cook snorted in response, a typical reaction of his that meant something wasn't a big deal. "'s'okay," Cook replied, cracking a little smile in the corner of his mouth. "Was looking for you. Wanted to give you something before you left." Cook produced a small bundle wrapped in a cloth from his apron. From the smell, it was apparent that it was some of his biscuits, Cook's specialty. Djute's face brightened up almost immediately. He wasn't a big eater, but he could scarf down an entire plate of Cook's biscuits in minutes.  "Luck out there. Don't die," He added, almost as an after thought.  Djute thanked him quickly and moved quickly into the next room.

As he burst through the meeting room door, it quickly became apparent to Djute that he was late, especially when he caught the guildmaster's glare, his eyebrow cocked disapprovingly at the apprentice cartographer. "Well, now that out cartographer has decided to grace us with his presence, we can begin," Garoche announced sarcastically. Djute muttered out an apology and took his seat in the back of the room, feeling a tad embarrassed. Once he was seated he took a quick glance around the room, checking to see who would be joining him on the expedition. Not including himself or the guildmaster, there were five other people in the room. Directly next to him was Lars, the guild's best pathfinder, and his apprentice, Hester. They were both laid back people who were quick with a joke, but they did their job and did it well. In front of Djute was his teacher, Hammond, who was almost Djute's polar opposite. Where Djute was determined and passionate about his craft, Hammond was quite lazy and cared very little about his work. Instead, his only desire was gold and the beer he often bought with it. Djute was always hoping that he would quickly surpass his teacher and be done with his lackluster attitude. The other two people he had never seen. One of them was clearly a mercenary the guild had hired for extra safety, but the other appeared to be no more than a boy in a worn cloak. Resolving to figure out the boy's identity later, he turned his attention back to the guildmaster, who was getting ready to begin.

[Zacharia]

The cloaked lad previously mentioned eyed the newcomer as he rushed into the room. He moved a black leather-bound book from underneath the stool he sat on and pressed it into his lap as he moved his eyes off the other boy and back onto the guildmaster. He wasn't supposed to be there, and he inwardly grinned as he thought back to earlier that morning, back when the sun was even lower in the sky than it was now. If there was a deity looking out for him somewhere in the cosmos, he would've thanked it a million times.
--

Zacharia was hotfooting it through the winding highways of the city, with a...rosary of sorts pressed into the crook of his left arm. He wasn't sure why he was doing it, or why so early, but that didn't matter because Father Karpath had requested he deliver it to some bum in an Exploration Guild. Karpath might've been gullible, but you don't question Father Karpath. Period. The first rays of sun were hidden behind streaks of cloud, which made the alleyways darker than normal. His target was coming up on the right, as he followed the path the holy man described. As he rounded the bend, it was like the puddle came up out of nowhere. One wrong step, and before he knew it he was laid flat and covered with a substance that sure wasn't water. But the rosary was safe, and that's all that mattered as the birdies circled the boy's head. As he was sitting up, the door to his right flung open and a very shaggy man started throwing curses at him.

"The hell you think you're doing thrashing about at this ungodly hour? Some of us are trying to sleep around these parts!" Zacharia rubbed his eyes and let the world come into focus as the man continued showcasing his colourful vocabulary. "Are you..." The boy looked at a soggy piece of parchment he kept in his pocket. "Gar-osh, right?" he asked.

"Who needs to know?"

"I'm looking for him."

"You're looking at him. Make it quick, I need some shut-eye."

"Father Karpath sends his regards." Zacharia took the rosary out of the deathgrip he had it in, and pressed it into the man's hand. Garoche plucked the note attached to it and began muttering it to himself. He re-read it twice, and a third time, to make sure he hadn't misunderstood what it said. "Of all the favors that bastard could've asked me... Just come in, shut up, and find something cozy to sleep on. And don't wake me up again, or you're out on your arse first thing this morning." "Right away, sir." Zach said as he stood and followed the man in, who then locked the deadbolt on the door.

And now, here he was. He was a little sleepy and still had a little bit of the stuff caked onto his shoes, but he was raring and ready to go.

[Djute]

With everyone seated and attentive, Garoche cleared his throat and began to speak. "Alright, as I'm sure you are all aware the six of you will be embarking on a general exploration expedition. We've been hired by the Seven Suns merchant guild to conduct a expedition into the eastern side of the continent to locate potential trade routes, map the area, and monitor the movements of local Tarvos tribes.  Now, we are only monitoring the Tarvos. No interaction. I don't want any of you doing something brave or stupid. I'm sure I don't need to tell any of you that Tarvos incredibly dangerous when provoked. Our only goal is to get a grasp on their general movements so we can advise the Seven Sons on where they should move their goods safely. This expedition will take about a month to complete. You will travel for two weeks, mapping and observing, until you arrive in the town of Olmos, where you will resupply and return using a different route. Are there any questions?" A silence fell over the room and for a moment, Djute considered asking what a Tarvos was. However, he didn't want to feel foolish and decided to ask one of the other expedition members once they were on their way. Taking the silence as an answer to his question, Garoche continued, "Well, if there aren't any questions, I guess you should be on your way. Good luck to you all."

The briefing over, Djute rose to his feet and left the building. He didn't want to hang around to be scolded by the guildmaster and he thought that the fresh air would help with the butterflies in his stomach. He was honestly quite nervous. It was his first time on an expedition and he had little idea what to expect. All he really knew was that he would be seeing all sorts of new things, especially this Tarvos thing, whatever it might be. It took only a few minutes for the rest of the expedition to gather outside the building and, once they had double checked that everyone had what they needed, they set out for the city gate. Noticing the strange boy from earlier towards the back of the group, Djute decided that this would be the best time to figure out who he was. He let the others get ahead of him, and tapped the boy on the shoulder. "I haven't seen you around the guild before. The name's Djute. And you?"

[Zacharia]

Zacharia listened intently to Garoche's big ol' leadery speech. He had no clue where they were going, and only the foggiest idea of what a Tarvos was. He'd heard of their cousins, the ancient Maelduins, which were beasts that weren't to be trifled with. Picture a huge horse-man with the strength of five-ten dragons and you'd get the picture. Not like he ever wanted to meet one, he'd just come across them in his studies a few times. Zacharia raised his hand to ask what the things were, but either the man didn't see him or didn't care. It would've been nice to know what was trying to kill you on your quest, but he would find out soon enough. From the looks of things, there'd be no way the group could take on a fleet of monsters at one time, so he could safely assume they wouldn't just charge in blindly. After all, Exploration Guilds weren't uncommon where/when he lived.

As the briefing ended and the members dispersed from the building, Zacharia grabbed his book and followed the cluster heading out the door. He'd stick to the back for the moment, it wasn't like he was needed at the front. You know that whole theory of "stepping on a bug in the past could cause the apocalypse in the present"? As dumb as it sounded, he wasn't going to test it out. Live and let live, as it were. But apparently, that didn't apply to the other boy who slipped away from the group to chat him up."I haven't seen you around the guild before. The name's Djute. And you?" He didn't want to talk too much either because of his accent. He wasn't one to mince words, but he really sounded out of place in the city. Bern didn't exist yet, so the only place he could say he was from was "far away". "Err, My name's Zach and I'm not really a part of the guild. Do you know what a Tarvos is?"

[Djute]

Djute frowned a the boy's response. It certainly wasn't what he had been hoping to hear, but on the other hand, it would have been unusual for him to have suddenly spouted his life story. Still, Djute wasn't entirely sure about Zach and he made a mental note to find out as much as he could about the strange boy. The question he had followed his response with was equally as disappointing. He had really been hoping that the boy would have known something about what a Tarvos was, but, as it turned out, Zach was just as uninformed as he was. It was rather unfortunate that he didn't know, because now Djute would have to go to either Lars or Hammond for the answer. Lars would never let him forget it if he asked him, and Djute was sure that Hester would join in on the mocking the moment she found out. Hammond on the other hand would have called him and idiot and then explained it to him in the most condescending manner possible. He supposed that he could ask the mercenary that they had hired, but mercenaries were a fickle bunch and he was likely to charge Djute for the information. Djute resolved to weigh the positives and negatives later and then  find out what a Tarvos was. "I'm afraid I'm in the dark about that, Zach. I honestly know very little outside of my own craft. In the past few months, I've seen so many new and interesting things that I wouldn't be surprised to find that a Tarvos is a fish that walks on land and eats children. They don't have much out of the ordinary where I'm from. How about you?" he added, trying to dig a little into Zach's background.

[Zacharia]

"Maybe one of your guild members have notes on them. Probably Mr. Head Honcho Guy. He's Garoche, right?" The control on his speech patterns was getting less and less awkward. He could at the very least hold a conversation and not sound like the village idiot. Djute sounded out of place a little bit too, which made him feel more relaxed talking to him. "I'm a dreadful thief, so I doubt we'd be able to set fingers on notes like that. I think they may be half-horse, so I bet we'll know them when we see them and they'll look even cooler in person if we don't read about them on pape-- that is, parchment." This lingo stuff was getting real annoying. He could see why they decided to make the changes in the first place.
"...They don't have much out of the ordinary where I'm from. How about you?"
 Ahh, the oldest trick in the book. Well, maybe one of the older ones but you get the point. Djute wasn't asking much, to be honest. Zacharia shrugged before he responded. "Guess it depends on what you mean by ordinary. If we all lived underwater back home or something, that'd be pretty ordinary. I'm not an orphan by the way. Talking about home's made me feel kinda antsy lately. Y'know what I mean?" As the group rounded yet another bend, one of the gates to the outside reared its head at them, about a thousand feet in the distance. The place had a lot of bends. It was a miracle he hadn't gotten lost on his way. Which reminded him of Father Karpath. He wasn't someone Zacharia cared about as a parent or anything. More like that crazy uncle with the eyepatch, headwrap, and the ukelele that showed up for your family gatherings and disappeared from the face of the earth any other time. You love him all the same, though. Garoche was prepping a scroll--likely for the Gate Guards--with the official seal of Arcadia's Eyes on it. Green wax with a giant eye surrounded by a square wall. It was pretty neat though; not all guilds or even nobles had their own seal.

[Djute]

"Yeah, he's Garoche, our guildmaster. He's a bit uptight, but he's a good man at heart and he keeps us in line. Just don't upset him. That's just plain scary when that happens. So I wouldn't recommend trying to steal his notes. Not that he would have brought them with him anyway. I think he expects us to know about stuff like that already, but my teacher is a bum and barely taught me anything at all. So I guess we're just gonna have to wait and see. I wouldn't be surprised to find out they are half horse honestly. After all, I used to think dragons were a myth and look how wrong I am," Djute finished, gesturing to a dragon that was conveniently flying overhead. Zach's guess made sense to Djute. After all, they were headed into the plains, area known for its horse riding nomads and it wasn't too far removed to think that there would be some sort of half-man half-horse creature wandering around. That also seemed like something that merchant caravans would want to keep track of, especially if they were as deadly as Garoche made them out to be. Zach's answer to the question about his background seemed strange, however. Things didn't seem to add up about Zach, especially his speech patterns. He seemed to have a habit of stumbling over words that should have been familiar. However, Djute pushed those thoughts aside for now. He would have time to dig later. For now, they were approaching the gate and would soon be leaving the grand and magnificent city.

As they arrived at the gate, one of the guards approached Garoche and inquired as to their business and why they were leaving the city. Garoche handed him the scroll that probably stated where their expedition was headed and what their goal was, which the guard eyed for a moment, and then waved them through. In a matter of moments, they were through the gate and headed away from the city. They would be taking the entire trip on foot. Many of the areas would be too wooded for horses to travel through, and walking made it easier for Hammond and Djute to get the lay of the land and map the area. As the city was beginning to fade on the horizon, Djute turned to Zach and said with a smile, "Well if you see anything that looks remotely like it's half horse, let me know. I wouldn't want to miss that."

[Zacharia]

As they left the golden walls behind them, Zacharia couldn't help but wonder where they got all that gold. Well, magic was more potent in this time, wasn't it? Perhaps alchemy was around too. But the Philosopher's Stone was a legendary concept, there's no way it could've been created. All that gold couldn't just be mined, painted to look like the stuff. He took a good look back at the city of Arcadia. Call it a hunch, but Zacharia didn't think he'd be coming back for a while. All his affairs were in order, which was only join up with these guys. So he was pretty much good. But while the other guys could keep their mouths shut about questions since Garoche and he had an agreement. Djute probably didn't know, and the mask of being vague and mysterious would drop off the face of his...face eventually. Might as well make nice with him, Zach's gonna need some friends that aren't choirboys and street urchins.

Zach answered Djute with a toothy grin. "Make sure it misses you before you miss it, friend. If they roam the plains, methinks we'll have territory troubles with them." He wasn't kidding, which was the funny part. Never try to pick a fight with a plainsmen, because if you don't get him the first time he'll keep coming back until one of you is dead. Bonus points for being in a flat place with no cover. Selibas seemed a little different in that aspect, probably from being half-Bernese. At least they'd have some respite before they got to the plains. They had to leave the ring of mountains first before anything else. The thought of the blustery wind made him shiver a little and shrink back into his cloak-- hope everyone else was wearing something cozy.

[Djute]

Djute chuckled at Zach's response. "We wouldn't want that, now would we? I'll try to keep that in mind." With that, Djute turned his focus back to the road. They wouldn't be staying on it for much longer, as the road wasn't what the merchant guild would be interested in. For the most part, roads had been already mapped, and even if they weren't, people generally knew where they went. Instead, merchants were more interested in finding new routes to take. In the merchant's world, travel time was everything, and if they knew a good shortcut, they were sure to exploit it as often as possible. Of course, merchants weren't fond of exploring dangerous areas while transporting their wares, so that was where the exploration guilds came in. This is what Djute had been looking forward to since he had left his house. Finally he was going to see what the world had to offer. However, right now, the world seemed to be offering up a storm and wasn't planning on taking no for an answer. In the distance, Djute caught a flash of light, and about ten seconds later, the roll of thunder. He groaned audibly and reached into his pack, pulling out his cloak. He threw it over his shoulders and made sure it covered his pack, so his materials wouldn't be damaged by the rain. Before long the rain was upon them and they increased their pace, seeking shelter from the storm.